A MULTI-million pound overhaul of Suffolk's fire stations will move a step closer next week if councillors back the proposals.A report to Suffolk County Council's development and control committee has recommended the gren light be given to build new fire stations in Colchester Road, Ipswich, Needham Market, Normanshurst Drive, Lowestoft, Stradbroke Road, Lowestoft, Clare and Nayland.

A MULTI-million pound overhaul of Suffolk's fire stations will move a step closer next week if councillors back the proposals.

A report to Suffolk County Council's development and control committee has recommended the gren light be given to build new fire stations in Colchester Road, Ipswich, Needham Market, Normanshurst Drive, Lowestoft, Stradbroke Road, Lowestoft, Clare and Nayland.

Councillors are also being asked to back plans for a new three-bay fire station at Yarmouth Road in Ipswich, despite fears the site could be vulnerable to flooding.

The land is sandwiched between the Rivers Orwell and Gipping but a county council spokeswoman said the Environment Agency had been contacted and the risks had been addressed.

Under other proposals, the existing fire station headquarters in Colchester Road will be demolished and replaced with a new station with associated community function.

Needham Market fire station will be rebuilt on its current site in Barking Road while a new one bay single-storey retained fire station will be built on a small part of the Normanshurst site in Lowestoft.

The full-time fire station already based at Normanshurst will relocate to Stradbroke Road, where a new five-bay fire station will be built.

Councillors are also being asked to back plans to demolish the station in Station Road, Clare, and to replace it with a new building, and to replace the existing single appliance station in Bear Street, Nayland.

The project to renew many of the county's fire stations is expected to take several years and will be undertaken by private companies as part of a Private Finance Initiative scheme.

Plans to extensively refurbish Sudbury fire station in Gregory Street have already been approved.

A new training centre at Great Blakenham, on the existing Suffolk County Council site off the B1113, has also been given the go-ahead.

There are plans for a new one-bay station to be built in Hadleigh, with the current Market Place base vacated, but proposals are to be resubmitted to the committee for a meeting on March 1 due to a slight change in the location.

Councillors will discuss all other proposals at a meeting on Thursday, January 25 at Endeavour House in Ipswich.